Posted by edsortails on 2/3/2013 11:35:00 PM (view original):Then I assume you were all jumping out of your seats in outrage over the PI call on SF on the nearly as big 3rd down minutes before in Baltimore's favor?

I already said I was rooting for SF. I think there were a couple of calls missed in this game. I understand "letting them play", but you have to a) be consistent and b) call the blatant stuff. I didn't think the Crabtree one was blatant, but could have been called. The one on Culliver in the endzone was far more blatant.

That being said, I honestly cannot believe Jim Harbaugh didn't have some more creative plays in his pocket for that situation. His team had 1st and goal at the 7 with the go-ahead TD in reach and his 4 play calls were not all that impressive.

Posted by edsortails on 2/3/2013 11:35:00 PM (view original):Then I assume you were all jumping out of your seats in outrage over the PI call on SF on the nearly as big 3rd down minutes before in Baltimore's favor?

I already said I was rooting for SF. I think there were a couple of calls missed in this game. I understand "letting them play", but you have to a) be consistent and b) call the blatant stuff. I didn't think the Crabtree one was blatant, but could have been called. The one on Culliver in the endzone was far more blatant.

On the PI called against the 49ers the defensive back hooked his arm. That was and should have been a flag.

Bottom line is the 49ers dug themselves into a hole they couldn't get out of. Twice (again), Flacco was in trouble and just threw up a desperation heave, only to have an open receiver come down with it. Horrendous secondary work - reminded me of the Denver and NE games. Too many DBs sleeping on Flacco.

Posted by edsortails on 2/3/2013 11:38:00 PM (view original):there was a holding on the safety as well but the extra 3 seconds probably wouldn't have done much for the 49ers

I got the impression that the holding was deliberate. After all, the 49ers were NOT going to be accepting any penalty (and let the clock run out). That's actually something the competition committee needs to look at.

Good special teams coaching for the Ravens. ****** special teams coaching for the 49ers.

It was obviously deliberate - and the penalty for a hold in the end zone is a safety, so whether or not the Niners would have accepted the penalty was irrelvant. I'm not really sure what you can do in that situation, maybe make it so that accepting a penalty for a safety resets the game clock to the start of the previous play or something like that.

Posted by AlCheez on 2/4/2013 2:26:00 PM (view original):It was obviously deliberate - and the penalty for a hold in the end zone is a safety, so whether or not the Niners would have accepted the penalty was irrelvant. I'm not really sure what you can do in that situation, maybe make it so that accepting a penalty for a safety resets the game clock to the start of the previous play or something like that.

I think they probably need to make it so that if you hold in the end zone and the result of the play is a safety then the hold should be enforced on the free kick. At least then you get an extra 10 yards. You could probably also put time back on the clock to reflect when the hold occurs, but again only if the result of the play is a safety anyway. Maybe you do both. Have them kick from the 10 and put the time back on the clock (you know when the hold actually occurs). At least then there is a negative for holding on the play, which right now is the proper thing to do. Hell the Ravens should have just been tackling the Niners to give koch as much time as humanly possible.

So, at least we have agreement that the Ravens played it smart... and the competition committee needs to come up with a way of punishing the offending team, instead of essentially giving them carte blanche to hold, tackle, and maybe even kill two people at a Super Bowl party.

Taking the safety was a risky call. Not saying it's wrong, but if the 49ers force Koch out with 8-9 seconds left, then they can fair catch and have a shot at a 20-30 yard OB pass to get them in long FG range. If you punt out of the endzone (even though a block is possible), you force them to score a TD.

Either way, I still have no clue what was up with that final return. No trickery, no formations, nothing - the idiot with the ball didn't even attempt to lateral it until he'd bounced off 3 tacklers and was on the ground.

If the Niners had fair caught the free kick and had 8-9 seconds left, they would have been at the 20, which means they would have to go at least 35-40 yards and get out of bounds in time to get a crack at a very long field goal with a shaker kicker to for a chance to tie. If you punt out of the end zone, if they get any kind of return, they don't have to go much further in one play to win the game. Taking the safety is a no brainer, especially since they were obviously aware of and prepared to exploit the holding rule in that situation.